Per a lengthy player discussion on the Suggestions Forum, the Raptor UDV has had its armor mildly increased from 10,500 to 12,000, to enable it to compete on a little more even footing in PvP combat. The Raptor has a fairly large frontal area, a long tail, and reduced maneuverability compared to some other ships, so this buff is intended to help mitigate those disadvantages a little.

The Raptor in general is not intended to be "the best" at any given function (including combat), rather it's supposed to be one of the more flexible ships. It includes integrated storm-radar extenders, and the UDV further adds cargo/addon and mineral/temperature scanners. It also includes more cargo space than the average fighter-class vessel.

These kinds of features are more in-line with UIT thinking: Flexible craft for long-term exploration, prospecting, defense. A good general-purpose craft that can cover a lot of bases. It is not intended to be a warfare-driven dogfighter on the level of a Valkyrie, or a heavy hitter like a Prometheus, or even a specialty light fighter like a Centurion Superlight. These are far more specialized instruments of combat, where the entire Raptor class did not evolve to address the same need within the UIT.

The Union Defense Vessel variant of the Raptor was created to allow the UIT Senate (and member-factions), a reasonable vessel for border defense, anti-piracy and other interdiction needs, while still retaining many of the flexible advantages offered by the Raptor platform as a whole.

More gameplay changes and announcements will be coming in the near future, we're a bit buried in development at the moment. Have a great weekend, everyone.